Postcard from Katowice: Wednesday, December 5

The GCF pavilion has been busy today, and the Fund also hosted its first official side event of COP24. But these events are only part of the reason that GCF is in Poland, so today's Postcard from Katowice will try to give an overview of what the GCF delegation is up to on any given day.

The Fund takes its annual guidance from the COP, which will shape its priorities for the coming year. So GCF is following the negotiations closely, providing information where needed as the mandates and guidance for next year are being shaped. In the coming days GCF will also make its formal report to the Conference of Parties on how it has implemented last year's guidance, which you can already read on the COP24 section. The annual COP is also an opportunity for GCF to consult and obtain feedback on key priority areas such as adaptation planning, REDD+, readiness support, and others. The side event today focused on the review of our readiness activities, and gave a platform for participants to discuss how to strengthen this key area as we move to a new approach: 'Readiness 2.0'.

At the operational level, the gathering of all the parties to the UNFCCC in one place for two weeks gives a great opportunity to make progress on GCF's country-level operations. Bilateral meetings with developing countries, Accredited Entities, and other partners are being held to finalise agreements, review progress, and plan next steps in support of adaptation and mitigation climate action. Today's signing of a project agreement for a new project in Namibia is a good example. More generally, COP also provides the chance to promote awareness of GCF's role and activities, something which in turn will help to accelerate climate action on the ground. Finally, with the launch of the first replenishment this year, GCF is focused on reporting back to contributors on how it has used the funds raised during its first financing period (the Initial Resource Mobilisation), and putting in place the conditions for a successful and ambitious replenishment.

Meanwhile, today's climate talks were given a sober context by the news that carbon emissions are set to reach an all-time high level in 2018, 2.7% higher than last year. A clear, and stark warning that COP24 needs to result in urgent action.